Cats clinch No. 5 seed for next week’s SEC Tournament with fifth conferencevictory

The 27th-ranked University of Kentucky men’s tennis team closed out itsregular season schedule on Sunday, April 15, with a 4-3 win over No. 25Arkansas at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex. The win guarantees the Cats theNo. 5 seed in next week’s Southeastern Conference tournament for which UKserves as host.

Kentucky (13-13, 5-6 SEC) got off to a strong start by grabbing thedoubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 2. Juniors Johan Grunditz and RevenStephens knocked off Arkansas’ Oskar Johansson and Henrik Tofft at the firstposition, while senior Edo Bawono, playing his final regular-season home match,paired with freshman Karim Benmansour to take out the UA duo of Eduardo Pachecoand Magnus Kullenberg.

In singles, the nation’s top-ranked player, Johansson, defeated47th-ranked Bawono, while 79th-ranked Tofft held off Benmansour to get the winand put the Hogs up 2-1. Kentucky rebounded on the final three courts to notchthe win as Emery knocked off Kullenberg in an emotional win at No. 4, whilefreshman Rahim Esmail got a strong win at No. 6. Pousette, who dropped hisfirst set, 7-5, to Aleksy Bubis, came back strong to take the final two sets,6-3, 6-1, for the UK win.

Kentucky’s final singles loss came at No. 3, where Grunditz’s perfectrecord in the SEC this season was ruined as Razorback Tiago Azevedo got pastthe Swedish talent in a third set super-tiebreak. Grunditz lost the first setwith a 9-7 loss in the tiebreak before rebounding with a 7-5 second-set win.

Since UK had already clinched the dual match, the players elected to play asuper-tiebreak to decide the match. The loss moves Grunditz to 22-10 on theseason, and drops him to 8-1 in conference play. He hadn’t lost aregular-season conference match since last season’s regular-season finaleagainst South Carolina. In that match, Grunditz fell, 7-6, 6-1, to SouthCarolina’s Seth Rose.

“This win was important to us going into postseason play,” Coach DennisEmery said. “I’m really proud of the way everyone played today, especially our3-6 players. They worked hard to clinch the match for us, and that’s the kindof positive attitude that we need heading into the tournament.”

Kentucky will play host to the conference showdown, April 19-22, at theBoone Tennis Complex. The official tournament draw will be released from theconference office on Monday, April 16, but the Cats look to play 12th-seedVanderbilt at 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 19.

Tickets are still available for the tournament at the UK ticket office.Tickets for Thursday’s four first-round matches, Friday’s four quarterfinalmatches, Saturday’s two semifinals and Sunday’s championship can be purchasedby calling (800) 928-CATS or (859) 257-1818.

SinglesNo. 1 #1Oskar Johansson (UA) def. #47 Edo Bawono (UK)           7-6 (3), 6-1No. 2 #79 Henrik Tofft (UA) def. Karim Benmansour (UK)          6-2, 7-6 (7)No. 3 Oggie Kolev (UA) def. Johan Grunditz (UK)                 7-6 (7), 5-7, 1-0No. 4 Matt Emery (UK) def. Magnus Kullenberg (UA)               6-4, 6-4No. 5 Gustav Pousette (UK) def. Aleksey Bubis (UA)              5-7, 6-3, 6-1No. 6 Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Tiago Azevedo (UA)         7-6 (5), 6-4DoublesNo. 1 Grunditz/Reven Stephens (UK) def. Johansson/Tofft (UA)            8-4No. 2 Bawono/Benmansour (UK) def. Eduardo Pacheco/Kullenberg (UA)       8-5No. 3 Bubis/Azevedo (UA) def. Pousette/Emery (UK)                       8-5